Announcements
oracknows | January 1, 2007Sadly, for many, today marks the end of their vacation (or at least of their long weekend). Fortunately, I was smart enough (as well as able) to take one last precious day off tomorrow to head into the city and check out an exhibit at the Met that my wife and I want to see.
As I prepared to take a week and a half off just before Christmas, I had been concerned that I had not heard anything from my intrepid blog mascot (no, not the Hitler Zombie). Would 2007 be a year without him?
Fortunately, the answer is a resounding "No!" He's back, and badder than ever. In fact, you might even say he's…
oracknows | December 30, 2006Yes, after a week off, both from work and (mostly) from blogging, I'm back. I know I promised the occasional new material, but I found that not blogging for a week was actually a good thing and thus didn't post anything new after Christmas. Even though I'm back, though, I'm taking one more day off before firing up the blog again. In the meantime, I've scheduled for this afternoon the reposting of a couple of tasty posts that were--shall we say?--a bit controversial in their day. I think they're definitely worth reposting, even at the possible expense of drawing an even larger horde of trolls…
oracknows | December 29, 2006New Years Day is almost upon us, and soon 2006 will be history. It's been a great year for the Skeptics' Circle, with some truly creative and entertaining takes on what, nearing the end of its second year of existence, has become almost a venerable institution. (Two years is almost ancient by the standards of the blogosphere, you know.)
In any case, it just so happens that the very first Skeptics' Circle of 2007 (the 51st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle) will be hosted at See You at Enceladus on Thursday, January 4, 2007. The guidelines for submissions and schedule of past and future Circles…
oracknows | December 25, 2006I'd just like to take this time to wish everyone out there Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hannukah, and all the rest. And our blog mascot wants to show he's in the spirit as well:
Here's hoping you're having fun with family and friends!
oracknows | December 24, 2006Found on the Internets via e-mail:
With with the holidays fast approaching, please accept -- with no obligation, implied or implicit, on behalf of the wisher or wishee -- my best wishes for an environmentally-conscious, socially-responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice, practiced within the traditions and/or within the religious or secular belief(s) of your choice and with respect for the traditions and/or religious or secular beliefs of others or for their choice to not practice traditions and/or religious or secular beliefs at all; and for a…
oracknows | December 22, 2006Like many, I'm heading out of state today to visit family and friends and celebrate the season. Just like the last time I took a vacation, because my Internet access will be sporadic, I've scheduled some new material to appear over the next couple of days, but for the most part while I'm gone I've scheduled the reposting of a bunch of material from the old blog, this being the perfect excuse to move it over to the new.
However, blogging being what it is, an obsessive activity, time and Internet connection allowing, I'll almost certainly find an excuse to post a bit of new material to save you…
oracknows | December 21, 2006Yes, it's that time again, time for another Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle.
Given that yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan at the too-young age of 62, this edition of the Circle, posted at Humbug! Online, is a tribute to the man and his dedication to science and skepticism. Theo has decided to arrange it in a similar fashion to the chapters in what is arguably Sagan's greatest book: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.
Next up to host the first Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle of 2007 is See You At Enceladus. If you're a blogger trying to follow…
oracknows | December 20, 2006Tangled Bank #69 has been posted at Salto Sobrius. Martin is labeling it the War on Christmas Edition. He's joking. At least, I think he's joking...
oracknows | December 20, 2006Pediatric Grand Rounds, vol. 1, no. 18 has been posted at Breath Spa for Kids:
No cuddly Santa for us, My Hearties. This is a swashbuckling, buccaneering sort of Paediatric Grand Rounds, I have looted and pillaged various blogs and seized control of the Good Ship PGR.
For those so inclined, there's also a non-pirate version at Blog, MD.
oracknows | December 20, 2006Just in case anyone was wondering, the Seed techie was doing some work on the servers last night, and something went awry. The result was the inability to comment on many blogs and the inability of bloggers to post (or even see any of their posts in the editing panel).
Things are fixed now, I can see my posts (both past and planned future posts), and ScienceBlogs should be working OK. If not, let me or someone know.
oracknows | December 19, 2006As hard as it is to believe, it's official. It appears that Respectful Insolence won the 2006 Weblog Awards as Best Medical/Health Issues blog. I had waited to announce this until it was official, plus a little time because I still couldn't believe it. It would also appear that one other ScienceBlog, Pharyngula, edged out Bad Astronomy Blog to claim the Best Science Blog crown.
Other nominees from the ScienceBlogs collective were also nominated in these two categories, including The Cheerful Oncologist (one of the first medical blogs I discovered and a blog whose style I still sometimes wish…
oracknows | December 19, 2006The latest Grand Rounds has been posted at Nurse Ratched's Place. This time around it's, appropriately enough, a Charlie Brown Christmas theme.
oracknows | December 18, 2006The latest Seed Magazine extravaganza happens to include a "class photo" of all of us ScienceBloggers. Orac should be easy to spot. Maybe I should have gone with the cliche of a masked surgeon, but I've got to be true to my alter ego. (No, not that alter ego.)
I guess that's just the lot of a hyperintelligent, cranky clear box of blinking lights.
retrospectacle | December 16, 2006Due to some rather obnoxious putrid trolls, went back to commenter moderation. No big deal, I'll let all comments through as long as they aren't abusive nor spam.
Also, while I'll be checking in, I'm taking the week off blogging until I get back to the US on the 26th. This is because my family is going to the Wolong Panda Reserve in Chengdu and won't likely have internet access. However, expect panda pictures galore when I return shortly!
Everyone have a happy holidays and Appendagemas in my absence. :)
oracknows | December 15, 2006Yes, I know that skepticism and Christmas don't exactly mix. After all, most people, even highly skeptical and unreligious ones, tend to enjoy at least a few, if not many, of the myths that accompany the season, myths such as Santa Claus. But we won't let that stop us from having a bit of skeptical fun next week on Thursday, when the next Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle lands at Humbug! Online on December 21.
A while back PZ pointed out that December 20 just so happens to be the tenth anniversary of Carl Sagan's death at the too young age of 62 and that a memorial blog-a-thon is being…
oracknows | December 11, 2006It's that time of year again. Nominations are open for the best medical blogging:
Welcome to the third annual Medical Weblog Awards! These awards are designed to honor the very best in the medical blogosphere, and to highlight the diverse world of medical blogs.
The categories for this year's awards will be:
-- Best Medical Weblog
-- Best New Medical Weblog (established in 2006)
-- Best Literary Medical Weblog
-- Best Clinical Sciences Weblog
-- Best Health Policies/Ethics Weblog
-- Best Medical Technologies/Informatics Weblog
-- Best Patient's Blog (a new category this year)
Nominations are…
oracknows | December 10, 2006
I know, I know.
When I first found out that I had been nominated for a 2006 Weblog Award for Best Medical/Health Issues Blog a few days ago, I initially said that I didn't think I would win and didn't really care if I would win. And it was true.
Then.
Then, much to my surprise, I found myself actually in the lead by a sizable margin for a couple of days, but over the last day or so a diet blog has passed Respectful Insolence in the voting. Now that I see might actually have a chance to win this thing, I've had--shall we say?--an attitude readjustment. I've decided that maybe it's not so…
retrospectacle | December 9, 2006From December 11th to the 26th I'll be in Shanghai visiting my parents there, for my birthday and the holidays. Fear not, I'll still be blogging and probably posting interesting pictures from China. I always have a blast when I go and am really looking forwards to having a bit of down time away from school, work, and stress. I think we might even fly out to the Wolong Panda Reserve where China's panda breeding and research facility is.
Don't be surprised if posts go up at 3am, as the time difference is 12 hours. Not looking forward to that loooong flight. Thank the FSM that they have free…
oracknows | December 9, 2006Mike Dunford, whose wife is currently serving in Iraq, tells of a a worthy effort to provide aid to the families of soldiers who were killed while serving overseas:
As I mentioned recently, a number of soldiers in Iraq will be running the Honolulu Marathon this weekend. The course goes around a base several times, mostly over dirt roads. In part, running the Honolulu Marathon lets folks maintain a connection with home, but that's not the only reason that they are running. They're also running to support TAPS - an organization that provides support to the families of people who die while on…
oracknows | December 7, 2006
Matt over at Pooflingers Anonymous informs me that Respectful Insolence⢠been nominated as a finalist in the Best Medical/Health Issues Blog category of the Weblog Awards. I have no idea who nominated me (I certainly didn't and was unaware until the other night that I was even a finalist), but my thanks go out to you, whoever you are. As you can see from my little logo, on the sidebar, I was a finalist last year as well but didn't win. Last year, I was in the Best New Blog Category, though, and lost big time to the political blogs. (Note how the nominees for Best Blog are, with the…